Tulare County man pleads guilty to cow manure ponzi scheme

For more than five years, a Porterville man convinced investors that his company was building anaerobic digesters on dairies in Fresno, Kern, Kings, and Tulare counties, as well as other counties in California and Idaho.

Authorities and investors later discovered that the man's claims were lies.

Ray Brewer, 66, of Porterville, plead guilty to wire fraud, money laundering, and identity theft for running a multimillion-dollar ponzi scheme, where he told investors he would turn cow manure into green energy.

When his crimes finally came to light, authorities found that Brewer stole $8,750,000 from his investors.

Anaerobic digesters are large machines that use microorganisms to breakdown manure and turn it into methane. The methane can then be sold on the open market as green energy. The methane also produces Renewable Energy Credits (REC), which are often bought by companies to meet green energy requirements.

Brewer’s investors were supposed to receive 66% of all net profits and tax incentives.

Here's how he stole millions from investors...

Brewer took the investors on tours of dairies where he planned to build the digesters. He would send them fake lease agreements with the dairy owners. He also sent altered agreements with banks that made it seem like he'd been approved for millions of dollars in loans to build the digesters.

Investors were also sent forged contracts with multinational companies to mislead them into believing Brewer had secured outside revenue streams.

After getting money from investors, Brewer would transfer the money into bank accounts that he opened in the names of different businesses, his family members, and an alias. Brewer used fake descriptions for the transfers. He did this to conceal the location, source, ownership, and control of the money before using it for personal expenditures, according to court documents.

Brewer used the money to buy two plots of land, a 3,700 square foot custom home, and new Dodge Ram pickup trucks, according to court documents.

To appease investors, Brewer sent them fake construction schedules, fake invoices for project-related costs, fake power generation reports, fake RECs, and fake pictures.

When investors realized they were being ripped off, Brewer moved to Montana under a new identity. He later claimed to have been wrongfully arrested before admitting who he was, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Although he was able to refund a few investors some or all of their money, that money came from new investors who didn't know Brewer was using their money in this way.

Brewer is scheduled to be sentenced on June 26, where he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for the wire fraud conviction. He also faces 20 years in prison and a fine a of $500,000 or twice the amount of money involved for the money laundering conviction, and a mandatory sentence of two years in prison, consecutive to other counts, for the aggravated identity theft conviction.

This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Tulare County man pleads guilty to manure ponzi scheme